


To Give A Pebble

by Flameo_Hotman



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: M/M, Marriage Proposal, Penguin Sledding, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zuko is ninety nine percent sure this bird isn't a demon. He is a hundred percent WRONG, and sokka is his prince, demon bird is a good bird husband to his bird wife, demon bird is know to pick fights with seals, demon bird is married to a perfect and wonderful bird, demon bird tells sokka to hurry up an fucking propsal already, local disney princess tames demon bird, the tribe questions said perfect and wonderful bird's taste in birds, zuko is a disney princess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:09:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24476995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flameo_Hotman/pseuds/Flameo_Hotman
Summary: When penguin sledding isn't just penguin sledding.Happy Birthday to my friend Awkward Penguin. Say hi to your cousin Tonrar for me.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 50
Kudos: 492





	To Give A Pebble

**Author's Note:**

  * For [00AwkwardPenguin00](https://archiveofourown.org/users/00AwkwardPenguin00/gifts).



> Thank you to H_Faith_Marr and 1Zukoneedafamily2 for beta reading  
> Also, I would die for Tonrar the Penguin, and more likely than not it would be by his flippers I died.

“Why would I ever have gone sledding on a penguin?” Zuko had sputtered in shock. “I am royalty. Not to mention, when would I ever have had the chance to do something so- so- so childish?”

Sokka sighed from where he sat on Zuko’s meditation table before he reached out and grabbed his adorable boyfriend by the hips and pulled him down to sit in his lap, “Just because you’re royalty doesn’t mean that you’re not allowed to have fun, Darling.”

“Sokka, I don’t have time for fun,” The fire bender scowled, despite the pink flush that dusted his perfect cheeks. “And it isn’t becoming of-”

Sokka covered Zuko’s mouth to stop him from giving voice to flimsy excuses and said, “No, you have plenty of time for fun. That is the whole point of Uncle serving as your regent is so you have the time to have fun. And none of those stuffy nobles from the Caldara will be there to see. Just you, me, and the penguins.”

Following that he removed his hand from Zuko’s mouth.

Zuko sighed and pressed his forehead to Sokka’s own, “I already have fun with you though… We had fun last night, didn’t we?”

Sokka remembered that fun with pride, but he wanted Zuko to have stupid fun in addition to sexy fun. And he was going to make that happen, as soon as The Dragon’s Maw docked at the South Pole.

“We most definitely had fun. And I very much enjoyed that fun. So much in fact that I have decided that you are going to go penguin sledding because you deserve nice things. And if you decide that you don’t enjoy it, then I won’t make you do it ever again. Okay?”

“Fine, but if you tell anyone about this then I won’t let you kiss me for a week,” Zuko answered before he kissed Sokka to seal the promise.

Sokka wasn’t sure what he had done to earn Zuko’s love, but he was glad he had done it. And he had Toph to thank for setting them up.

She had figured them out probably the very moment she’d met them, and at the first opportunity after the war sat them down in Zuko’s sitting room at the palace and groaned in true dramatic Toph fashion, “The two of you are massive idiots and I refuse to watch this will they won’t they play go on for another second. Sokka, Zuko has this massive fucking crush on you, and Zuko, Sokka is so in love with you that its frankly nauseating. So I have decided that the two of you are going to get married. Okay? Good! Toph out!”

And then she had stormed out of the room, leaving the two shell shocked males alone to process what she had just done and said.

And well neither of them wanted to fight Toph on it, so Sokka had laughed awkwardly, “Looks like I need to carve you a betrothal necklace then.”

Zuko, of course, had sat there and blinked at him dumbly, before managing to ask in a small and vulnerable voice, “You love me?”

“Of course I do. Have you ever met yourself? And your looks are a definite plus,” He had answered factually because there wasn’t anything about the Zuko of today that he didn’t love. Now the Zuko that he had first met was a different story, but they had put that behind them and all that was left was this amazing and awkward dork who could kick Sokka’s ass and look stunning through the whole thing.

He would never not owe Toph for getting them together.

And maybe there was more to this whole penguin sledding thing than just having some stupid fun. Maybe he had finally finished that betrothal necklace. Maybe he had made a couple dozen until he had gotten it just right even.

And maybe it was just about seeing Zuko smile before he gave his boyfriend the necklace, praying to Yue that Zuko would say yes.

When they disembarked the ship, Zuko froze and stared at the village going suddenly pale as the snow that surrounded them.

“Hey, you okay- Oh… Yeah…,” Sokka trailed off, as he remembered the one and only time Zuko had been to the South Pole. “That’s behind you. I’ve written home about you to my people. They know you aren't that person anymore. I know you aren’t that person anymore, Baby.”

Or at least Sokka hoped that his people knew that.

Maybe he should have given Zuko that betrothal necklace before coming here because if the village decided that they didn’t approve of Zuko and Sokka still went through with giving him that necklace, then it would look like he had done it in defiance of the tribe. And Zuko would never accept his proposal out of fear that Sokka’s people would turn on Sokka.

The fire bender didn’t seem very reassured by this however, even if he did calm somewhat. As though he had realized that there wasn’t anything to be done about it.

Sokka was determined however to get Zuko away for penguin sledding long before the village had been given the chance to show any possible disapproval of his boyfriend.

As long as he proposed before they could express any negative opinions then it wouldn’t matter what they thought because the deed would already be done. And there was no way to express any form of disapproval that would matter after the fact.

If anything they would be the rude ones for talking shit after the fact.

So he turned to Lt. Jee who was talking to a crew member of what was pretty much a floating palace and said, “Have someone bring our things to the tent closest to the fire pit. In the Southern Water Tribe guests sleep the closest to warmth.”

And then he grabbed his boyfriend by the hand and rushed off into the snowy tundra that lay just outside the outer wall of the village.

The shriek of surprise Zuko let out was adorable, and Sokka shot him a big grin, glad he had thought to grab a pocket full of fish before leaving the ship.

Normally Zuko would complain when Sokka startled him. Yady yadda, don’t startle fire benders. I burned Toph’s feet that one time. But this time there was none of that. So either Sokka hadn’t startled him badly enough for Zuko to nag at him or Zuko had been that badly worried about how Sokka’s people would react to him.

And while Sokka knew which he would prefer it to be, he also knew which one it actually was.

“The penguins should be right over this snowbank!” Sokka gleefully informed his boyfriend before letting go of his hand and shouting, “Race you there, Jerk Bender!”

Then he took off for the snowbank.

Zuko gave a groan, before racing after him and quickly overtaking him. Which was something that Sokka had expected. However what he hadn’t expected was the sight that greeted him when he came to the crest of the snowbank.

The fire bender was surrounded by a pack of penguins who were chipping at him happily as each one vided for Zuko’s attention. And Zuko was petting several of the creatures with the single most radiant smile Sokka had ever seen.

Zuko had never looked more beautiful than he did at this moment and Sokka was sure that his soul had left his body at the sight.

Zuko’s laugh was a spirit song that promised a never-ending nirvana.

And then Sokka noticed which penguin his boyfriend was currently petting.

Sokka felt a pang of panic was over him, and he rushed over startling the penguins, with the exception of the one Zuko was currently petting.

The penguin was at least twice as large as the others and had several nasty scars scattered across its body from fights with tiger seals.

“Why did you do that?” Zuko asked a layer of annoyance, lacing his words, as Sokka watched Tonrar the Penguin warily.

He answered tense and a little freaked out, “You’re petting Tonrar?”

“So that’s this little sweetheart’s name?” Zuko asked as he cooed at the evil penguin, that much to Sokka’s shock was displaying none of his asshole tendencies at the moment.

“Yeah… He is a bit of a jerk? He likes to bite people and picks fights with tiger seals?”

Zuko didn’t look up from the penguin and instead now spoke directly to it, “Is that so? You must be a very brave penguin to fight tiger seals! But maybe don’t bite kids? Can you do that for me?”

Tonrar squeaked back happily to Zuko.

“Good boy, Tonrar!” The fire bender praised, before looking up at Sokka and asking, “So how does penguin sledding work?”

By this point the other penguins had returned to vying for Zuko’s attention and Sokka was made to wonder how Momo had never abandoned them during those months before Zuko had joined the Gaang. Animals loved Zuko more than Sokka loved food.

However they were here to go penguin sledding and Sokka wasn’t about to mess this up. So he led Zuko and the penguins up a steep hill, not even having to lure them with fish because once again animals loved Zuko, and then showed Zuko how to get the penguins to lie down.

The fire bender could have chosen any penguin to ride on but of course he had to choose Tonrar the Asshole Penguin, who when he realized what was going on laid down on his belly with absolutely zero promptings.

Seriously at this rate they would have to take Tonrar with them back to the Caldera because the way Zuko beamed at the bird was precious and Sokka didn’t think Tonrar was going to let them leave without him.

“Tonrar must do this a lot. I didn’t even have to use the fish to get him to lay down,” Zuko said with a big smile.

Tonrar was not a popular option for the experienced penguin sledder. It only took getting bitten by the bird once to dissuade anyone of the illusion that he was a good choice.

In fact no one had managed to get Tonrar to ever let them ride him.

No one except Zuko of course.

Sokka sat down on his own penguin, a gentle bird lovingly known as Aakaga who was Tonrar’s mate, and instructed, “Okay now you just push off with your feet and tada! Penguin sledding!”

Zuko gave a nod and then he was gone.

Sokka pushed off and followed behind with a shriek of joy.

There wasn’t anything in the world like penguin sledding, except maybe riding down the mail shoots of Omashu or skydiving from Appa.

It didn’t take long to reach the bottom.

Zuko flopped off from Tonrar and into the snow laughing. Sokka followed suit a moment later when Tonrar gave an angry squawk at him for still sitting on Aakaga.

Now no longer burdened by Sokka, the motherly penguin hopped back up onto her feet and waddled over to her mate and nuzzled him, cooing happily.

No one understood what she saw in Tonrar, but hey if he made her happy then who were they to judge? She was the only living thing that Tonrar seemed to love. Well that and Zuko, but animals loved Zuko. That was a fact of life.

And spirits was Zuko beautiful when he laughed.

Zuko’s laughter was one of the greatest sounds in the world.

And yes, while there were other more delicious and sinful sounds that Zuko could make, that Sokka loved just as much, there was something so perfect and wonderful about Zuko’s laugh that promised that everything was right with the world.

Then Tonrar waddled over to Zuko and pulled on the fire bender’s sleeve insistently until Zuko had gotten back up. Following that the bird squawked at him and waddled back up the hill. Aakaga following behind.

Sokka was floored as he got back to his own feet, but the penguin had been very clear about what they were supposed to do.

Zuko gave a shrug and said, “I guess we are going again.

“I guess we are,” Sokka answered as he followed his boyfriend up the hill.

Finally once Tonrar had decided that Zuko had his fill of penguin sledding he squawked at Aakaga and waddled off a few meters away, bent down, picked up something with his beak, and waddled back on over.

He dropped it at Sokka’s feet, bit at his ankle, and then waddled back over to Zuko, who was now petting Aakaga.

Sokka bent down and picked up whatever it was the bastard penguin trying to steal his boyfriend had dropped and then he froze.

It was a pebble.

Sokka stared open-mouthed at the bird.

The bird squawked at him expectantly and Sokka knew what Tonrar wanted him to do.

“What did Tonrar give you?” Zuko asked as he used his free hand to pet the penguin.

“A pebble,” Sokka answered, as he stuffed it in his pocket.

Zuko smiled and asked, “Can I see it?”

The spirits could not have devised a better moment for Sokka to purpose.

“Sure,” He replied, as he searched his pocket for the necklace he had stashed there while Zuko had been sleeping last night.

And when he found it he closed his hand around the pendant. Then he walked over to the love of his life, nervous and hopeful.

When he held out his hand for Zuko he forgot to open it. So the fire bender rolled his eyes at him and unwrapped his closed fist to reveal the necklace.

“That isn’t a pebble? That’s a-” And then he looked up at Sokka in shocked awe. “You- This- Me- Us?”

“Yeah… I’m sort of hoping that you'll say yes.”

“Yeah, definitely, let’s do this,” Zuko blabbered, as he took the necklace from Sokka’s hand and held it reverently before looking back up at Sokka and asking, “Will you- Can you put it on me?”

Sokka would do anything for Zuko as long as he looked at him like he was right now.

He was speechless at the look of pure adoration the fire bender was giving him, so he gave a jerky nod and Zuko turned around before reaching behind him to sweep his long hair out of the way for Sokka.

Sokka’s hands were shaking as he brought the bright red fabric of the necklace around the fire bender’s throat and secured the carved stone to Zuko’s neck. He fumbled with tying it in place, his hands deciding now was the perfect time to be clumsy and forget how to tie a knot.

What was probably the most important one he would ever tie in his entire life.

And once it was secure, Zuko placed the hand that wasn’t holding his hair back to the stone.

“This is why you wanted me to go penguin sledding…” Zuko breathed in awe.

Sokka beamed at Zuko when his  _ fiance _ turned around to look at him and confirmed, “I’ve been planning this for months. So kind of.”

Zuko took one of Sokka’s hands and pressed a kiss to the palm of it before pressing that same hand to the coppery stone, saying, “But when did you have a chance to bury it? And how did you manage to train Tonrar to go retrieve it?”

Sokka’s brain halted as he took in what Zuko had just said.

Did Zuko think Sokka had actually conscripted the help of a penguin? And why the hell didn’t Sokka think of doing that?

Still… If Zuko thought that Sokka had done something that awesome, then he wasn’t going to correct him on it.

“Now that’s a water tribe secret, Darling. We should get back to the village, so I can show off my gorgeous fiance!” And as expected Zuko went as red as the ribbon around his neck.

And Sokka loved every minute of it.


End file.
